G.I. Combat Vol 1 286
** ** ** Supporting Characters: * Charlie Antagonists: * The Fat Man * Henchmen Other Characters: * Sunbathers Locations: * Key Largo, Items: * Wooden Aztec statue * Speargun * Raw uncut cocaine Vehicles: * Tourist speedboat * Seaplane | StoryTitle2 = Dead Winner | Synopsis2 = In Maunddaw, in the Bay of Bengel, The Mercenaries are waiting in line to board a cruise ship heading for America when they overhear some of the passengers talking about the police delaying the ship to look for Foreign Legion deserters. Quickly leaving the dock before they are spotted, the three are able to charter a speedboat to take them to safety until the situation cools off. They head out to sea and away from sight, but later are spotted by the Harbor Police. The police begin to fire, but Gordon blasts the ship's searchlights out so they are able to escape in the dark. They head inland, into the Chindwin River. By morning, the Mercenaries have floated quite a distance into the country. Their speedboat is nearly out of gas, so they stop at the nearest dock they can find. At the top of the hill from the river sits an old missionary, and the three hope to be able to get some help from anyone that still lives there. Inside, an old man named Mr. Pinckney is extremely sick with jungle fever, being cared for by an old local native named Ali. The Mercenaries enter just in time to see the man collapse, too weak to stand. They help him to the bed, and Pinckney pleads with the men to find his lost sister Daphne so that she may continue with his missionary work. He tells them that she was last known to be at her jungle hospital about forty miles up country, tending to the sick. Recently, Ali has told him that he has heard the drums beating from the village, telling the area that the natives are no longer paying the witch doctors for their spells. They speak of gathering together and attacking the hospital, and killing everyone including the missionary's sister. The Mercenaries accept the job, even though the man has nothing to pay them. They owe God a freebee. The Mercenaries trek through the treacherous jungle for days before they get into the area where the man said the hospital would be. They find that the attack has already started. Horst moves up to rescue a young woman who is about to be speared from the tree. He disarms the native, but a poisonous viper pites the native on the arm, and he falls from the tree. The young woman, whom they discover is Daphne Pinckney herself, rushes over to help the dying native. She sucks the venom out of the man's arm, leaving him to recover on his own under the shade of a nearby tree. The Mercenaries tell Daphne that they are here to take her back to her brother, but she refuses to leave her patients in the hospital without telling them goodbye. The group is ambushed by the warring native, who desire to bring back the head of the woman for their witch doctor Ahmed. The Mercenaries strike back, but Daphne forbids them from killing. With fists and knives, the Mercenaries try to hold back the attacking natives but there is just too many of them. One native moves in to kill Daphne with his spear, but just as he delivers the killing blow the native that she had rescued before jumps between them and is killed by the spear. The fighting stops. The natives are shocked at the sight of on of their own dying by their hands. The dying native is Ahmed, the chief witch doctor, who saved Daphne's life to repay the good deed she did for him. Returning back to the Missionary church, Daphne is able to spend a few minute's time with her brother before he dies from the fever. She promises to take over his work after he is gone. As she is leaving the church to thank the three Mercenaries, she collapses into Horst's arms. She tells him that she had a cut in her mouth, and the poison that she had sucked out of the witch doctor's arm is now in her bloodstream. She dies in his arms, and they bury both brother and sister together outside the church. The native Ali promises to keep their memories alive, and that the villagers will remember them and tend to their graves for as long as they exist. | Editor2_1 = Murray Boltinoff | Writer2_1 = Robert Kanigher | Penciler2_1 = Vic Catan | Inker2_1 = | Colourist2_1 = | Letterer2_1 = | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * Mr. Pinckney * Daphne Pinckney Antagonists: * Harbor police officers Other Characters: * Chief Ahmed * Ali * Myanmar natives Locations: * Maungdaw, Vehicles: * Speedboat * Police boat | Notes = *The final page of this issue begins the text article Famous Fighting Outfits: The Battling Super-Builders (Part 1), telling the story of the Engineers Corp during World War 2. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }}